Serbia

News about Serbia, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 19, 2015

Prosecutors in Serbia say eight men suspected of participation in 1995 Srebrenica massacre have been arrested; is first apprehension of any of those accused of killing Bosnians in Europe's worst slaughter since World War II. MORE

Feb. 4, 2015

International Court of Justice at The Hague rules neither Croatia nor Serbia committed genocide against each other's peoples when they were at war during breakup of Yugoslavia in early 1990s. MORE

Dec. 6, 2014

Serbia and Bosnia, former enemies, cooperate to arrest 5 Serbs and 10 Bosnian Serbs more than two decades after torture and murder of about 20 people at a remote rail depot in Bosnia and Herzegovina; arrests are reminder of the unresolved crimes of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia; members of Bosnian Serb militia are also captured, and prosecutors hope to glean more information from them about their superiors who spearheaded massacre. MORE

Nov. 6, 2014

United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague proposes temporary release for Vojislav Seselj, Serbian nationalist leader whose health has seriously deteriorated while awaiting end of his long-running trial; Seselj is charged with inciting others to commit war crimes in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1990s. MORE

Oct. 21, 2014

Albanian Prime Min Edi Rama's scheduled visit to Belgrade, Serbia, is postponed after provocative stunt at soccer match in Belgrade that fanned ethnic tensions, spurred violence and provoked apparent cyberattack; visit would have been first by Albanian prime minister in nearly 70 years. MORE

Oct. 17, 2014

Russian Pres Vladimir V Putin visits Belgrade, Serbia, to commemorate city's liberation by Red Army during World War II; visit underlines Moscow's growing attempt to assert its influence in western Balkans, even as Serbia tries to link itself inextricably to the West without losing Russia's support. MORE

Oct. 15, 2014

Soccer Roundup; qualifying match between Serbia and Albania for the 2016 European Championship is abandoned after skirmishes break out involving players and fans over an Albanian flag that was flown above the field by a drone; other soccer news noted. MORE

Oct. 9, 2014

Belgrade Philharmonic prepares for American tour that will culminate in concert at Carnegie Hall; organization hopes that tour will raise money from Serbian diaspora in United States to build a new concert hall in Serbia; orchestra has made an impressive recovery from brutal Balkan wars of the 1990s, boasting a remarkably diverse ensemble, but remains in financial need. MORE

Aug. 16, 2014

Saturday Profile of Witness B-129, young woman from Belgrade who testified in war crimes case involving former Serbian Pres Slobodan Milosevic; Witness B-129 describes how her life has been detrimentally affected by her testimony, which forces her to live under police protection program far from home. MORE

May. 22, 2014

Contaminated rainwater is receding in Balkans but has turned much of Serbia into poisonous stew of toxic chemicals; concerns are now shifting to an almost inevitable outbreak of disease; there are also worries that second wave of flooding will hit region, inundating some of the towns and villages that are just now beginning to dry out. MORE

May. 20, 2014

Serbian workers have so far been successful in protecting coal-fired Nikola Tesla power plant in town of Obrenovac, which has been hard hit by flooding; storm surge that has been causing floods is expected to edge into the capital Belgrade's area, threatening the power plant southwest of the city that provides half of the nation's electricity. MORE

May. 19, 2014

Torrential rains in Serbia and Bosnia cause most intense flooding region has seen since record-keeping began over century ago, and result in 33 deaths and thousands of evacuations; rains cause landslides and widespread destruction. MORE

Apr. 5, 2014

European Union plans to set up an international tribunal focusing exclusively on crimes believed to have been committed by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian rebels during their war with Serbia. MORE

Mar. 19, 2014

Darko Saric, described as being among most feared and wanted drug traffickers in Balkans, is arrested in Serbia and charged with smuggling more than five tons of cocaine and laundering at least $30 million; authorities say he has been at helm of elaborate drug ring stretching from South America to western Europe. MORE

Mar. 18, 2014

Serbia's election commission says that governing center-right Serbian Progressive Party has won 48 percent of the vote and its leader Aleksandar Vucic is expected to become prime minister. MORE

Jan. 11, 2014

Mayor Mark Sokolich of Fort Lee, NJ, who was called 'little Serbian' by Gov Chris Christie aide responsible for bridge closing, is in fact of Croatian descent; Sokolich has called comment offensive to himself and to Serbians; Serbian government and media view scandal as small referendum on Balkan politics in diaspora. MORE

Dec. 13, 2013

Residents of Kosovo welcome Facebook's policy of allowing them to identify themselves as citizens of Kosovo, rather than Serbia, on their profiles; nation has failed to win recognition from the United Nations and the European Union, much less Serbia, ever since it proclaimed itself an independent state in 2008. MORE

Nov. 5, 2013

Future of a landmark power-sharing agreement between Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo is called into doubt after local elections in Kosovo are blighted by violence and intimidation by people suspected of being Serbian hard-liners. MORE

Sep. 20, 2013

Lithuanian customs officer in Kosovo, working as part of European mission overseeing judicial affairs in the tense region, is shot and killed in ambush; shooting comes as Kosovo and Serbia try to carry out power-sharing accord that two countries signed in April. MORE

Sep. 17, 2013

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund whose career has been buffeted by a series of sexual scandals, will become economic adviser to Serbian government. MORE

Sep. 14, 2013

Croatian authorities say they have seized large quantities of illegal military equipment, including rocket launchers and antiaircraft rockets, found in a shipment from Serbia. MORE

Aug. 31, 2013

Frederik Harhoff, Danish judge who criticized the president of the United Nations tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the court's decisions, is removed from his current case on the grounds that his remarks make him appear to be biased. MORE

Aug. 31, 2013

More than 2,000 Serbians welcome home Momcilo Krajisnik, who was convicted in 2000 by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal of persecuting and forcibly expelling non-Serbs during the war in Bosnia in 1990s; Krajisnik was released from prison after serving two-thirds of his 20-year sentence. MORE

Aug. 5, 2013

Spectacular rise and fall of Miroslav Miskovic, one of Serbia's richest businessmen, has riveted Balkan region; Miskovic's arrest in December was hailed by authorities as part of a crackdown on organized crime and corruption; analysts say Miskovic, charged with tax evasion, has become a potent emblem of the unhealthy link between business interests and the state that has allowed handful of tycoons to amass enormous riches. MORE

Jul. 13, 2013

Saturday Profile of Kosovo's Prime Min Hashim Thaci, who led country's bloody guerrilla war in the 1990s; Thaci is being hailed for a power-sharing deal with Serbia, but his history evokes region’s ethnic enmities. MORE

Jun. 20, 2013

Kosovo's first envoy to Serbia resigns after just two days on the job; resignation by Lulzim Peci pre-empts his dismissal for exceeding his powers and making remarks likely to irritate Belgrade. MORE

Jun. 15, 2013

Frederik Harhoff of Denmark, judge at International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, exposes deep rift at court's highest levels, suggesting in blistering letter that court's American president Theodor Meron pressured other judges into approving acquittals of top Serb and Croat commanders accused of atrocities during wars in Bosnia and Croatia in 1990s. MORE

Jun. 12, 2013

Landmark power-sharing accord brokered in April between Kosovo and Serbia has imposed changes to law enforcement, schools and courts in effort to overcome ethnic enmities, bring regional stability and enhance economic development in both countries; effort faces steep challenges, including ethnic Serbians' longstanding resistance to recognizing independence of Kosovo. MORE

May. 31, 2013

United Nations court acquits Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, two close aides of former Serbian Pres Slobodan Milosevic, clearing them of crimes committed by secret combat units they had commanded; legal experts express astonishment at surprise verdict, which has effectively absolved Serbia of any responsibility for atrocities committed by armies and secret police during wars in Croatia and Bosnia from 1991 to 1995. MORE

May. 26, 2013

United Nations war crimes tribunal is set to issue verdicts for Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, high-ranking officials under Serbian Pres Slobodan Milosevic, potentially providing link legally tying Serbian state to war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia. MORE

May. 10, 2013

Op-Ed article by Columbia University scholar David L Phillips contends that minority rights are the key to dissolving enmity between Serbia and Kosovo. MORE

Apr. 25, 2013

Editorial contends diplomatic deal brokered by European Union between Serbia and Kosovo shows good work union is capable of being involved in. MORE

Apr. 20, 2013

Serbia and Kosovo, after months of difficult negotiations, reach agreement aimed at overcoming ethnic enmities in Kosovo, former Serbian province, paving way for both countries to join the European Union. MORE

Apr. 18, 2013

Talks aimed at overcoming ethnic enmities between Serbia and its former province Kosovo end without agreement, as two countries struggle to negotiate deal that will enhance regional stability and help clear way for their eventual membership in European Union. MORE

Apr. 17, 2013

Serbia’s former foreign minister Vuk Jeremic, who is current president of United Nations General Assembly, strikes back at critics of meeting he organized on role of international criminal justice, denying their assertions that it was ruse to discredit war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia; United States, Canada and Jordan boycotted meeting. MORE

Apr. 11, 2013

United States boycotts United Nations General Assembly meeting, organized by former Serbian foreign minister who is body’s current president, that in theory is about role of international criminal justice but appears to be thinly disguised Serb complaint forum about war-crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia. MORE

Apr. 9, 2013

Serbia rejects European Union deal on Kosovo aimed at overcoming ethnic enmities, throwing into doubt its plans to join the bloc. MORE

Apr. 4, 2013

Talks aimed at overcoming ethnic divisions in Kosovo end without agreement, dealing potential blow to Serbia's aspirations to join European Union and undermining hopes of improved stability in Balkans. MORE

Mar. 22, 2013

World Cup qualifying match between host Croatia and Serbia is feared as potential flash point for nationalist fervor and memories of ethnic clashes that brought war to region in the 1990s. MORE

Jan. 18, 2013

United Nations apologizes for standing ovation during conclusion of Serbian song March on the Drina at concert in United Nations General Assembly; Secretary Gen Ban Ki Moon and other senior officials did not realize that song is associated with massacres carried out in 1990s against civilians under protection of United Nations peacekeepers; Bosnian survivor organizations protested paying of song and reaction to it. MORE

Dec. 13, 2012

Zdravko Tolimir, former senior commander of Bosnian Serb Army, is convicted by United Nations tribunal of genocide and sentenced to life in prison for his role in killings of thousands of prisoners near Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995. MORE

Dec. 6, 2012

Branislav Milinkovic, Serbian ambassador to NATO, jumps to his death from multistory parking garage at Brussels airport; Serbian officials say motive is not known. MORE

Nov. 30, 2012

United Nations war crimes tribunal acquits Ramush Haradinaj, former prime minister of Kosovo, for second time of charges of torturing and killing Serb civilians while he was commander of NATO-backed Kosovo Liberation Army during fight for independence in 1999; acquittal is denounced by Serbians, who believe Hague tribunal is biased against them. MORE

Nov. 17, 2012

United Nations appeals court in The Hague unexpectedly overturns war crimes convictions of Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, who led 1995 campaign that helped end wars involving Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia but also left several hundred Serbian civilians dead and drove more than 150,000 from their homes. MORE

Nov. 1, 2012

Sec of State Hillary Clinton says Serbs must accept that they cannot change Kosovo's borders, as United States and European Union press Serbia and Kosovo to normalize relations; Kosovo is third stop in Balkan diplomacy tour undertaken with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. MORE

Aug. 15, 2012

Branislav Mladic, a cousin of Bosnian Serb genocide suspect Ratko Mladic, is given a suspended prison sentence for hiding him in the village of Lazarevo for 5 of the 16 years he was able to evade arrest on war crimes charges. MORE

Jul. 26, 2012

Iviva Dacic, wartime spokesman for Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist party, will be sworn in as prime minister of Serbia, stoking international concerns that the country will abandon its European path and return to the nationalism of the past. MORE

Jul. 24, 2012

People are coming from around the world to Serbia for sex change operations, as shifting social attitudes and low-cost procedures help turn the country into a global transgender surgery hub. MORE

Jun. 29, 2012

Illegal organ sales in Serbia, a relatively new phenomenon, are growing in number, and experts say black markets for organs are spreading across Europe in the face of grinding poverty; the trend is abetted by the Internet, a global shortage of transplant organs and, in some cases, unscrupulous traffickers ready to exploit economic misery. MORE

Jun. 2, 2012

Nato-led peacekeepers clash with Serb protesters seeking to prevent international troops from removing their roadblocks in northern Kosovo; at least six people are injured. MORE

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December 6, 2014, Saturday

The prime ministers of Serbia and Albania pledged Monday to put their differences aside and focus on their mutual desire to join the European Union — but the good feelings did not last until the end of their joint news conference.

November 11, 2014, Tuesday

The United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague has proposed a temporary release for Vojislav Seselj, a Serbian nationalist leader with cancer, whose health has seriously deteriorated during his long-running trial.